1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 4 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: And how the tech are you. It's time for the 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: tech news for Thursday, August four, twenty twenty two. And 6 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: first I thought I should follow up with the story 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: that I talked about a little bit on Tuesday, namely 8 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: that Apple has recently filed an emergency motion with a 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: court in East Texas arguing that it's human rights have 10 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: been violated in Columbia. And if you didn't hear that story, 11 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: you're pricing what the heck. So let's give a quick 12 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: overview of what is going on. So, Apple's products that 13 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: use five G make use of patented technology, and Ericsson 14 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:57,279 Speaker 1: is the company that owns those patents. Apple doesn't want 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: to pay the licensing fees for the as patents from Ericson, 16 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: so it stopped. Ericson has reached out to several countries 17 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: asking the court systems of those countries to ban the 18 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: sale of any five G Apple products because those products 19 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: are infringing upon Ericson's patents. And it worked in Columbia. 20 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: So Apple filed an emergency motion about that, and then 21 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: a Texas judge said, look, just because you don't like 22 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: what's happening doesn't make this an emergency. You've got a 23 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: court date coming up, We're you're supposed to hash this 24 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 1: out with ericson. Just wait until the court date and 25 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: don't pull these shenanigans again. It's not an emergency if 26 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: you just want to have an earlier court hearing. Then 27 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: Apple filed another emergency motion, this time alleging that it's 28 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 1: human rights have been violated under the Universal Declaration of 29 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: Human Rights. Anyway, the bit I didn't talk about on 30 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: Tuesday was has been I hadn't even heard about yet, 31 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: is that this really is a bigger picture thing. It's 32 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: not just this one thing that that is absurd just 33 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: on the face of it. We have to look at 34 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: how absurd everything is. And according to Apple, Ericsson is 35 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: demanding a higher licensing fee for these five G technologies 36 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:17,959 Speaker 1: than they should, that the price tag is exorbitant, it's predatory, 37 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: and that Apple doesn't want to deal with that, and 38 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: that was why Apple was going to take this whole 39 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: matter to court to hash it out, to determine if 40 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: those licensing fees were too high see Apple argues that 41 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,200 Speaker 1: the five G patents that Ericson holds should be grouped 42 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: under fair, reasonably and non discriminatory or FRAND terms f 43 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: r A and d FRAND as a concept that's usually 44 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,840 Speaker 1: brought up in anti competitive disputes. The argument is that 45 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: some patents are so important for general tech applications that 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: the holder of the patent should be compelled to license 47 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: them fairly to other parties, and refusing to do so 48 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: is akin to holding a monopoly over that technology. So 49 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: Apple is saying Ericsson is asking for way too much money, 50 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: which is why they originally asked to settle that dispute 51 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: in court. But then so so they go and do that, 52 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: right they get They get a court date which is 53 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,280 Speaker 1: for several months from now, It's like at the end 54 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: of this year. But in the meantime, while that court 55 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: date is off in the distance, Ericson then stepped up 56 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: the pressure by getting Apple's stuff banned from sale in Columbia. 57 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: Ericson kind of did a blanket approach, and Columbia said, okay, 58 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: so it actually happened in Columbia. I don't think it 59 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: happened anywhere else. So In other words, what Apple is 60 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: saying is that Ericsson has overstepped, rather than waiting for 61 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: the court case to actually find out if in fact 62 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: the licensing fees are egregiously high or if they are fair. Further, 63 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: Apple is implying that Ericson knew that the court was 64 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: going to find that the fees are too high and 65 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: then decided to throw this Hill Mary pass to get 66 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: countries to ban the sale of Apple five G products. Uh, 67 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: and that this was a sign that Ericson was trying 68 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: to out muscle Apple, like to say, hey, if you 69 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: don't pay our licensing fees, you're not selling anything at all, 70 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,479 Speaker 1: and that's gonna hurt your bottom line way more than 71 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 1: paying us what we're asking for. So Apple filed the 72 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: emergency motion in an attempt to get that original court 73 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: date moved up so that this could be resolved faster. 74 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: And the courts resent that because the courts say, this 75 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: is an emergency. That's not what emergency emotions are for. 76 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: That's not an emergency. Yes, you know there's this ongoing 77 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: dispute between these parties, but that doesn't meet the standard 78 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: necessary for it to be an emergency. So the courts 79 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: have so far declined to acquiesce to Apple's requests, and 80 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: I feel like that extra context was needed because my 81 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: report on Tuesday, I feel like that was really harsh 82 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: against Apple specifically. Honestly, I don't feel like there are 83 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: really any good guys in this one. I feel like 84 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 1: Ericsson's movements were not great. I feel like Apple's movements 85 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: were also not great. So I'm not willing to say 86 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: one party is definitively the bully and the other ones 87 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: definitively the victim, but rather to say like, no one 88 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: here has behaved particularly well, except perhaps for the judge 89 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: who keeps telling folks to stop putting up nonsense in 90 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 1: their courtroom. Now it looks like we're in another big 91 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: real estate bubble burst situation, which probably is something you 92 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: didn't expect me to talk about on a Tech Stuff episode. 93 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: But in this case we should actually call it a 94 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:50,040 Speaker 1: fake estate situation instead of real estate situation. Also, I 95 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,840 Speaker 1: should add I totally stole fake estate from a sub 96 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: creddit at some point that's not mine. I wish it were. 97 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,040 Speaker 1: I wish I had thought of fake estate instead of 98 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: estate now. Anyway, the the virtual real estate I'm talking 99 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: about is stuff that's related to the metaverse. So last year, 100 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: specifically around November, when Facebook changed its name to Meta Metaverse, 101 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: hype was really on the rise. It was skyrocketing, and 102 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: we saw a lot of ridiculous land rush like behavior, 103 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: some of it ranging around stuff like n f T s, 104 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: which really had peaked earlier, but still we're a big 105 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: topic of conversation, and also to things like cryptocurrency. And 106 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: then we saw people purchasing virtual plots of land on 107 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: something that doesn't actually exist yet. By that's something, I 108 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,359 Speaker 1: really mean a fully realized metaverse. The virtual blocks of 109 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: land can exist on actual platforms, meaning there may be 110 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: servers out there that host the virtual landscape that people 111 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: are purchasing. I'm not suggesting that the the virtual plots 112 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: don't exist at all, that it's just an idea and 113 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: not you know, on a server somewhere, but you can't 114 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: really use them for anything other than kind of acting 115 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: like a placeholder, at least not as far as the 116 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: metaverse is concerned, because there is no metaverse yet. According 117 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: to the Information the Journal of the Information, prices for 118 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: virtual lots have dropped by eighty percent over just six months. Now. 119 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: There are several different ways we can look at this. 120 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: One would be to engage in schaden freuda. If you 121 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: happen to be someone who does not care about virtual 122 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: land grabs, you didn't participate, you have no stake in that, 123 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: and you saw people going bonkers over it, maybe you're 124 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: feeling kind of pleased with yourself and a little happy 125 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: at their you know, misfortune as they see the investment 126 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: they make dropped by. Another reaction is to feel a 127 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: little sympathy for people who are swept up in the 128 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: excitement of the metaverse through no fault of their own. Really, 129 00:07:58,360 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: I mean, there was so much hype. I mean, they 130 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: didn't lacked the use of critical thinking, so I guess 131 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: you could argue that was some what their fault. But 132 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: when you are in a hype cycle, it can be 133 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: hard to see reality. And some folks just got carried away, 134 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: and my heart does go out to those And then, 135 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: of course there's a range of other reactions you could have. 136 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: I personally find myself going back and forth between being 137 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: snarky schadenfreuderman and being kind of feeling a lot of 138 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: compassion for the people who were hit by this. And 139 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 1: we've seen a lot of related markets take a few 140 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: hits this year, right, n f T s were kind 141 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: of the canary in the coal mine, because even before 142 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: we got to the whole meta stuff, people were already 143 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: starting to lash back against n f T s. I 144 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: feel like n f T S came too hard, too quickly, 145 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: at too many different people, and the reaction was rejection, 146 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: especially in places like the video game community. That was 147 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 1: that was kind of a litmus test for how certain 148 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: population would reject the n f T value proposition. I 149 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: think there was a really enthusiastic investor community around n 150 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: f t s, but a lot of the rest of 151 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:10,440 Speaker 1: the world just said, Yo, this is kind of stupid. 152 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: And now, to be clear, I am not saying n 153 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: f T s are inherently stupid. I think there can 154 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: be legit uses for n f T s. However, I 155 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: will say I think n f T speculation is stupid. 156 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: I think that treating it like a commodity is stupid. 157 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: I don't think ultimately that's the right way to use 158 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: n f t s, but that was the way that 159 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: that got the spotlight, and we saw such ridiculous examples 160 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: of it, and to this day it's still happening. It's 161 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: just happening on a smaller community. Right, we also saw 162 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency values tank and then virtual real estate prices tank. 163 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: And we've seen this play out in grand scale with Meta. Right. 164 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,319 Speaker 1: If you look at Meta and you look at how 165 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: Meta has to communicate it's approach to developing a metaverse, 166 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:10,679 Speaker 1: that's kind of, again an early example of the difficulties 167 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: that are across the entire landscape. You know, Zuckerberg actually 168 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: tried to get ahead of that fairly early on. He 169 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: cautioned investors that the creation of a fleshed out metaverse 170 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: was going to take many years and a ton of investment, 171 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: billions upon billions of dollars of investment. But I think 172 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: shareholders get antsy when they just start to see how 173 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 1: big the costs and losses are out of the reality 174 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: labs division at Meta. Now does that mean does all 175 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: this mean that virtual real estate is dead in the water, 176 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: that we're not going to hear about ever? Again? No, 177 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think what we're seeing is, 178 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: you know, what someone might call a market correction, or 179 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: that we've seen the hype peak and now we're on 180 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: the downside slope of the hype cycle. But eventually, I 181 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: think we're gonna see things level out and then climb 182 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: at a more sustainable rate. It seems pretty clear that 183 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: we are going to get something that we might call 184 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:11,839 Speaker 1: a metaverse. We might get several some things that we 185 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:15,559 Speaker 1: call metaversees, and that real estate is going to matter 186 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: when those somethings emerge, right, because if people are actually 187 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: going to these metaverses to interact with one another, having 188 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: a a position, a stance within that virtual space will 189 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,199 Speaker 1: be really important because otherwise you will miss out on 190 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: any kind of interaction you could have there. So if 191 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: you're a business, then yeah, I guess it does make 192 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 1: sense to think about this. I just don't think it 193 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: made sense to pour enormous amounts of money in an 194 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: unproven and and not ready market so quickly. Uh So, 195 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: I figured it will take a little bit longer before 196 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,199 Speaker 1: things start to look stable enough to support a robust 197 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: virtual real estate market, but we will get there, I'll so. 198 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:02,960 Speaker 1: As for me, I'm just gonna live in a real 199 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: world hut somewhere, just the real world, not the virtual world, 200 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: and I will remain blissfully ignorant of all the virtual 201 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:15,960 Speaker 1: mansions and sky palaces and underwater villain layers and whatever 202 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: else folks might make in the metaverse. Y'all have fun. Uh, 203 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: it's not for me, alright. One thing that is for 204 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: me are several more news stories. But before we get 205 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: to those, let's take a quick break. All fifty states 206 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:40,480 Speaker 1: attorneys general here in the US, so the attorneys general 207 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: for each of our fifty states. It's a confusing thing 208 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: to even have to say. They have all united to 209 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 1: fight a common enemy robo calls, specifically, in this case, 210 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: robo calls coming from foreign numbers. So a few years 211 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: ago we saw a real movement to curtail robo calls 212 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:01,559 Speaker 1: and spam calls within the United States. The government would 213 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: require carriers to incorporate tools designed to detect and prevent 214 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: these kinds of calls, to create databases to help UH 215 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: cut back on robot calls and spam calls. And those 216 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: requirements first applied to the major carriers because they held 217 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: the bulk of the responsibility. They also had the most 218 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: capability to respond quickly, and then the smaller carriers were 219 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,440 Speaker 1: given a bit more time to comply. They were still 220 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 1: expected to comply, they just didn't have to do so 221 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 1: at the same speed as the major telecommunications companies, and 222 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: now this new push is to task what are called 223 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: gateway carriers. These are telecommunications companies that field calls from 224 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: outside the country, so foreign calls that are coming into 225 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,640 Speaker 1: the United States, and they are tasked with the the 226 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: responsibility of determining whether or not the calls are legal. 227 00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: If the calls are not legal, then they should be blocked. 228 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,440 Speaker 1: Josh Stein, the Attorney General for North Carolina and one 229 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 1: of the leaders of this effort, said that the team 230 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: plans to hold phone companies responsible for allowing a legal 231 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: traffic to pass over US phone signals. And you might 232 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: wonder how all this is going to be managed, And 233 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: I don't know, but I am in favor of having 234 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: fewer fishing and spam calls hit my phone, So I 235 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: hope whatever plan is put into place works. SpaceX says 236 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: that it's next generation of Startling satellites, which the company 237 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,480 Speaker 1: uses to provide Internet service to satellite customers, will be 238 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,680 Speaker 1: quote invisible to the naked eye when at their standard 239 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: operational altitude end quote. This move is in response to 240 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: the global astronomy community, which has grown concerned that huge 241 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: networks of small satellites will block views of the Cosmos 242 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: and interfere with terrestrial observations of the universe. And I 243 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,200 Speaker 1: think this is Startling getting ahead of any regulations that 244 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: would otherwise force the company to change how it does business. 245 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: As to how Starlink has achieved this all, I don't 246 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 1: have any details. If I had to guess, I would 247 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: say that this next generation of Startling satellites are going 248 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: to be a little bit smaller and may be placed 249 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: in a slightly higher orbit than earlier satellites, and that's 250 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: how they are quote unquote invisible to the naked eye. 251 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: According to UK supply chain management company Fleet Assist, electric 252 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,000 Speaker 1: vehicles on average are twenty two percent less expensive to 253 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: service compared to similar internal combustion engine vehicles. The firm 254 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: says that some factors that likely contribute to this lower 255 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 1: cost of maintenance are things like electric vehicles have fewer 256 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: moving components, so there's less stuff that wears down through 257 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: normal use. On average, it takes thirty three percent less 258 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: time to repair or maintain e vs than I sees 259 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: for comparable jobs, so that means labor costs are also 260 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: down and e V parts are frequently less expensive than 261 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: I see parts. Again because the design tends to be 262 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: simpler with fewer moving parts. However, Fleet Assist warrens that 263 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: we might not see this go on forever, right, We 264 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: might not see that EVY expenses are lower than I 265 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: see expenses at the garage, because there's a thought that 266 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: garages are going to increase their prices in order to 267 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: maintain profitability. Like the garage is not going to say, well, 268 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 1: cost less for us to do the work, so I 269 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: guess we'll just make less money. They might say it 270 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: costs less for us to do the works, less charge more, 271 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: so we can make more money. So while EVIS would 272 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: continue to be easier to work on compared to I 273 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:37,359 Speaker 1: c ES, the advantage from a cost to consumer perspective 274 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: might dwindle over time. Streaming digitally has asked an interesting question, 275 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: what happened to HBO max original movies that just plane disappeared? 276 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: The piece mentions several Warner Brothers films that were on 277 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: HBO Max but aren't there anymore. And HBO is part 278 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: of Warner Media, which now in turn is owned by 279 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 1: Discover and just in the interest of full disclosure, once 280 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: upon a time, Discover was my corporate overlord. This was 281 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,920 Speaker 1: several years ago, however, and all of this has led 282 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,440 Speaker 1: to speculation that Discover is planning on making some big 283 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: changes to its streaming strategy, which we should hear more 284 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: about today. The company is going to hold its earnings 285 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,480 Speaker 1: call for Q two two. Analysts expect that we should 286 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: hear at least something about a new unified streaming service. 287 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: Maybe Discovery Plus will lump in HBO Max underneath it 288 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: and it'll appear as a tab. There's also an expectation 289 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: that we're going to see a massive change in production 290 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 1: that anything that would overlap between HBO and Discover that 291 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: is like you know, reality television and stuff that's going 292 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: to be smoothed out so that Discover becomes kind of 293 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 1: the reality TV side and HBO becomes the more fictional side. 294 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,159 Speaker 1: So it could be that some reality series that are 295 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:55,400 Speaker 1: under HBO go bye bye. Also, it sounds like we're 296 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:59,840 Speaker 1: going to move away from producing expensive content just for 297 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: streaming platforms. One big example of that is the film 298 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: bat Girl. It was supposed to be released to HBO Max, 299 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,640 Speaker 1: It was in post production. It has now been shelved 300 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,919 Speaker 1: probably forever at least indefinitely, and the reason for that 301 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: is David Zaslov, the CEO of Discover, doesn't feel like 302 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:23,879 Speaker 1: the reward of streaming this content is worth the expense 303 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: of producing it. This is expensive stuff, and if you're 304 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: gonna make expensive stuff, you should darn well be releasing 305 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,400 Speaker 1: it to theaters and getting money there. So I think 306 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,639 Speaker 1: this is a case where Zaslov said, Yeah, it's not 307 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: worth pouring more money into bat Girl to fix it 308 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,679 Speaker 1: because it had been testing poorly reportedly. Uh, let's just 309 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,159 Speaker 1: not worry about it. Let's cut it as a loss. 310 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: There's also a general feel that Zaslov is going to 311 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: be holding some layoffs later on down the road and 312 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:59,359 Speaker 1: and kind of whittled down the organization. Uh. I know that. 313 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: I've seen a lot speculation on that. I'm kind of 314 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: curious to see what happens. There's a lot of HBO 315 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,679 Speaker 1: content I actually really like, and I'm kind of worried 316 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 1: about whether or not such stuff will continue to be produced. 317 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: A lot of it ends up being produced for the 318 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: cable channel as well as the streaming service, so we'll 319 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,199 Speaker 1: have to see. Zaslovs a cable guy. That's where he 320 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 1: comes from, and that's where he's done the bulk of 321 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,560 Speaker 1: his leadership so maybe I don't know. I don't know 322 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: how to predict. I do worry about some of the 323 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: smaller UH departments and companies that Warner Media owns, and 324 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: whether or not those are long for this world. I 325 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,119 Speaker 1: suspect we might see some of those gets sold off 326 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: in the months to come. Well, I've got a couple 327 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: more stories that I want to talk about, but before 328 00:19:50,720 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: we get to those, let's take another quick break. Chinese 329 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: mega company Tencent wants to increase its steak in game 330 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: developer UBI Soft or you be soft, whichever pronunciation you prefer. 331 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: I'll probably go back and forth between the two, because 332 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: I'm a mercurial imp. Now. I did a couple of 333 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: episodes about ubi soft last year. I kind of detailed 334 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: the history of the company as well as how it 335 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: recently had to go through our reckoning due to allegations 336 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:31,800 Speaker 1: of a corporate culture where harassment and worse had been 337 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:36,160 Speaker 1: tolerated for years, really really ugly stuff. The company has 338 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: kept a fairly low profile since then, with a lot 339 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: of layoffs and and firings of people who were associated 340 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: with that scandal. Anyway, they are now looking at ten 341 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,680 Speaker 1: Cent coming in and buying up more of the company. Now. 342 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 1: Tencent already owns about five percent of ubi Soft and 343 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: reportedly wants to increase its steak in ownership so that 344 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:03,120 Speaker 1: it becomes the largest single shareholder in the company. Ten 345 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,840 Speaker 1: Cent also has a stake in a lot of different companies, 346 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 1: and particularly in video games, and reportedly one reason for 347 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: this move to increase its hold on Ubisoft is that 348 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: ten Cent wants to focus more of its resources on 349 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: global markets, and one potential reason for that is that 350 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: within China there's been a bit of a crackdown on 351 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: the video game industry, with the Chinese government taking the 352 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:32,240 Speaker 1: stance that games can potentially be harmful and thus should 353 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:36,959 Speaker 1: be regulated. So that might explain why ten Cent is 354 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,920 Speaker 1: wanting to take this this extra steak. No telling yet 355 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: if this is going to happen. The family that Ownscent 356 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: of Ubisoft would have to agree to sell it, so 357 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,400 Speaker 1: we'll have to see if that happens, but maybe Tincent 358 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: will make an offer that they can't refuse. We'll have 359 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,880 Speaker 1: to see. Finally, one of the scary realities of the 360 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: oncoming quantum computing era is that the encryption methods we 361 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:07,320 Speaker 1: rely upon today will at some point become useless now, 362 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: for this to happen, you first have to design to 363 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:15,120 Speaker 1: write algorithm for a sufficiently powerful quantum system. But if 364 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,679 Speaker 1: you were able to do that using quantum computing, you 365 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,920 Speaker 1: could break standard encryption so quickly that it would be trivial. 366 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,440 Speaker 1: So another way to think about this is that at 367 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 1: some point these systems will be powerful enough and have 368 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,719 Speaker 1: the correct algorithm necessary to create the equivalent of a 369 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,119 Speaker 1: skeleton key that can unlock every luck in existence, and 370 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: there will be no more secrets or something. So knowing this, 371 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: computer scientists for years now have been working on developing 372 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:52,320 Speaker 1: new encryption systems that, in theory, would foil quantum systems. 373 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: So this is like the next generation of encryption. To 374 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 1: keep systems safe even in an era of quantum computing, 375 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 1: this means it requires a totally different approach than the 376 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: way a lot of encryption works right now. And one 377 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,520 Speaker 1: of those approaches, called psych s i k E, which 378 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: by the way, is short for super singular isogeny key encapsulation, 379 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:18,400 Speaker 1: was looking pretty promising. The U s Department of Commerce 380 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:23,640 Speaker 1: has a National Institute of Standards and Technology. That's the 381 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 1: that's the entity in the United States that UH that 382 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 1: credits standards in tech. They held a competition, and the 383 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: competition had the goal of creating the next generation encryption 384 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:39,920 Speaker 1: schemes capable of holding off quantum superiority and PSYCH and 385 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: made it through several stages of the competition. It was 386 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:46,400 Speaker 1: doing really well, and then some researchers, using a perfectly 387 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: ordinary standard computer with a single processing core, found a 388 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: weakness in psych's algorithm design. Now I am not going 389 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: to pretend that I understand what happened and as sure 390 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: as heck, and not going to try and describe it 391 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,359 Speaker 1: because I would just muck it all up. But I 392 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: will say that using a mathematical approach, the researchers were 393 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: able to predict and then retrieve encryption keys from the algorithm. 394 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: So this would be like getting hold of any key 395 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,160 Speaker 1: coming out of this system and being able to make 396 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: an instant copy of it. Uh, at least for that 397 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: particular encryption method, So it is not secure. The PSYCH 398 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: creators said they were surprised by the researchers approach. This 399 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: was something they hadn't anticipated, so they were kind of 400 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: surprised to learn about the weakness of their design. They 401 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 1: hadn't looked at it from that perspective. And I think 402 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 1: of this kind of like if you were to build 403 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: something that has really strong strength against compression, really strong strength, 404 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,400 Speaker 1: real well spoken there, Jonathan, anyway that you could compress 405 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:52,760 Speaker 1: it and this thing would hold up really well. But 406 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,000 Speaker 1: someone ends up coming after your your structure using a 407 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: shearing motion, and it turns out your structure is not 408 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,879 Speaker 1: secure against shearing. Yeah, it was really strong against compression, 409 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,399 Speaker 1: but not strong against this other kind of attack, and 410 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: the whole thing crumbles. That's kind of what we saw here. 411 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: I think of this as actually a great story. It's 412 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 1: one of the illustrates the making robust solutions is hard 413 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,639 Speaker 1: to do, and that we need to put them to 414 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: the test or else we find ourselves dependent upon a 415 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 1: flawed system that's sooner or later someone's going to figure 416 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 1: out how to exploit. So it's better that we find 417 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: out something isn't going to work early on, rather than 418 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,640 Speaker 1: not figure that out, implement it, and then find out 419 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:38,080 Speaker 1: the hard way later, especially when you think that if 420 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:40,880 Speaker 1: someone is really clever and they exploit a system, they 421 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,840 Speaker 1: might not let anyone know about that until things have 422 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: really reached a catastrophic point. So this was a good thing. 423 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 1: It does, however, illustrate the challenges we face moving forward 424 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: in the quantum era. And that's it for today's episode. 425 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: Hope you're having a great day a great week. If 426 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: you have suggestions for future topics, reach out me. One 427 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: way to do that is to download the I Heart 428 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,199 Speaker 1: Radio app. It's free to download. Just navigate over to 429 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,440 Speaker 1: the tech stuff part. There's a little microphone nicon there 430 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,919 Speaker 1: you can click on that leave me a voice message 431 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: up to thirty seconds in length. The other way to 432 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,160 Speaker 1: get in touch with me is on Twitter. The handle 433 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: we use is text stuff hs W and I'll talk 434 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 1: to you again really soon y. Text Stuff is an 435 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,760 Speaker 1: I heart Radio production. 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